When dining out

it's really a "best guess" scenario. I try to find the closest thing to it in the database, and pick the one that has the highest calorie value because restaurant food tends to be calorie heavy.

By estimating. Use existing data as a guideline and go from there.

I try to go to places that have calories on menu.... but not always possible, so at those times, I search the database for that thing, and find the nearest equivalant from another restaurant... if I see that a few restaurants have the same meal, unless I think I had a very small portion, I choose the restaurant listing that had the highest calories... just to be on the safe side.

Whenever I go out to eat, I always rely on MFP mobile app as a guideline. Most of the time, someone has already logged that mean in the system. If not? I'll go to the restaurant's website and review their nutrition guide. If it's a locally owned restaurant, then I try to break the meal down into each ingredient and add it that way. The former is obviously the easiest.

I live in the UK where it's not really the norm to put calorie counts on menus. I have a few things I do to try and keep things under control:

I try to order the most simple un-processed thing there is, usually something that's just protein and veggies as calorie counts are a little more consistent in those- when you start getting to pasta/ pizza/ curry etc you have no idea of the ingredients. I at least try to start with a choice that's easy to break down and analyze.

I am somebody who is quite diligent about weighing/ measuring portions when I make food at home so I have a rough idea what 200g chicken breast/ 100g broccoli looks like. I can have a go at breaking down what is on my plate this way.

NO SAUCES- in the past these have been my blind spot. Realizing that the gorgeous silky hollandaise is a good proportion of my cals for the whole meal was a wake up call. If I absolutely must have a sauce it should be separate from the meal so I can control how much I eat!

Skip the bits that you need to. Unfortunately these are the best bits for me, so that lovely crispy roast potato or the creamy sauce, the stuff you KNOW is trouble.

It's not an exact science but it's working for me!

While at dinner, I guess. Then, after the fact, I enter it and really pay attention to what the actual calories were, i.e., I get a bit of feedback on my guess. Then, the next time I eat that thing, or something similar, I have a much better idea what the calories are . . . I personally find this "guess/feedback/better guess" loop really useful!

Cheers.

I just enter the closest thing I can find and try to overestimate a bit. I'm in this for life so I can't just stop eating at restaurants. Mostly, I am focused on consistently stopping eating when I'm not hungry and making sure to get a hearty helping of veg in what I order. Then I get back in the game the next day.

When dining out, how do you account that into your daily calories? Not every place has menus where they will tell you the calories in each meal, and I have been asking the restaurant, but they never know how many calories there are in the meal. How does everyone in here deal with this issue?

The vast majority of chain restaurants have their nutritional data online somewhere. For local, independent eateries (where the food is largely house-made, from scratch) if you're familiar with cooking yourself, you can "guesstimate". At least, that's what I do. My husband and I do not frequent chain restaurants- there are a few different local places we prefer. Some dishes are difficult to figure out, but now that I've been on here for a while measuring ingredients and portions, and building my own recipes, I feel pretty confident when I log my meal from these restaurants. If unsure, err on the side of caution and overestimate. Best of luck!

I usually go to Wetherspoon bars and dining in UK, they have full caloric info on everything in menu.
If any other place I am trying to estimate.